An Epidemiology Study fo Scrub Typhus among Field Workers in Kinmen

• Main Authors: Tzu Jaun Chen, 陳紫君
• Other Authors: Ching-Ying Yeh
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2000
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/75898135043933409887

碩士 === 台北醫學院 === 公共衛生學研究所 === 88 === Tsutsugamushi, also known as scrub typhus, is a febrile illness caused by the biting of mite with Richettsia tsutsugamushi. Its main clinical symptoms and signs are headache, fever, eschar, local lymph node enlargement, skin rash and the serious ones will result in pneumonia, heart and renal failures, and shock, with mortality reaching 60%. Formerly, Peng-hu, Lan-yu, Hualien, and Taitung were the most seriously infected areas. In 1993, martial law was lifted in Kinmen and tsutsugamushi disease cases were started to be reported there. For the past three years, Kinmen was confirmed as the most seriously infected area with the most reported and confirmed cases. This study concentrates on this area. It collects and analyze the epidemic characteristics of the past few years, uses the research results done by the Center for Disease Control, Department of Health and investigates the relatedness. Moreover, this study concentrates on the high risk field workers, using seroepidemiologic survey to find the specific antibody titer and collecting the demographic characters, environmental data and perception by constructed questionnaire. Then, this study does a simultaneous analysis. The study results show that during the 1994-1999 epidemic in Kinmen area, most cases occurred form May to October. And the most confirmed cases occurred in Kinhu village, which was 11.7% and there was a high coefficiency with the rat activity. Among the 239 research cases, the total infected rate is 10.9%. People who often and sometimes work in the field have a higher infected rate than people who need not work in the field, with the infection rate 16.0%, 11.5%, and 8.3% respectively. Kinmen did not establish the active monitoring data for the tsutsugamushi disease, and this study hopes to fill the epidemiology background gap and be used as a starting point for future studies.